FCC Commissioners Confirmed, Ending 4-Month Standoff

The Senate has voted to confirm two new
FCC commissioners, marking the official end to Chuck Grassley's four-month
standoff with the agency over its handling of LightSquared.

The Republican senator from Iowa agreed
in late April to lift his block on nominees Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai, a
hold that has been in place since
Decemberand left the FCC operating with just three acting commissioners.

Rosenworcel and Pai received broad
bipartisan support when they were first nominated by President Obama last year.
That support continued Monday when the Senate voted unanimously to approve the
new commissioners.

Grassley blocked the nominees to
pressure the FCC into disclosing inside documents detailing why LightSquared
was granted a waiver for its LTE network over the concerns of the GPS industry.
The agency held off on handing over files for months, arguing it was underno obligation to divulge the files to Grassley.

The senator eventually got his hands on
additional documents after House Republicans on the Energy and Commerce
Committee asked the agency to divulge additional information about
LightSquared. The FCC, overseen in part by the committee, then provided
thousands of documents to House lawmakers, who in turn provided copies to
Grassley and his staffers.

The FCC moved in February to bar
LightSquared from launching its service because of problems with GPS
interference. The company continues to insist it will find a way to move
forward but has yet to provide any viable alternatives.

Rosenworcel and Pai will replace former
commissioners Michael Cops, whose retirement became effective at the beginning
of the year, and Meredith Baker, who left her post last summer to take a job at
Comcast. Cops, an opponent to AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA, recently
joined the board of directors for Public Knowledge, also an opponent to the
merger.

West Virginia Democrat Senator Jay
Rockefeller said in a statement he was "elated" that the two
commissioners were confirmed and that the FCC "will resume full
operations."

The FCC has been working to clear a
significant backlog. The agency was working to clear nearly 5,000 petitions,
4,000 license applications and more than a million consumer complaints at the
end of last year, according to Oregon Republican Greg Walden, chairman of the
House Communications and Technology Subcommittee. Walden has pushed for reforms
at the FCC.